Photographer Suzanne McCorkell has won the Moran Contemporary Photography Prize for 2014 with her image of two Paralympians. A stark image of two Paralympian athletes by Suzanne McCorkell has won the Moran Contemporary Photography Prize for 2014. Brisbane-based McCorkell collected $50,000 in prize money for her image 'Time out from training', a portrait of Australian Paralympian couple Bridie Kean and Chris Bond, OAM.
Melbourne artist Louise Hearman won the 2014 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, for her paintings of renowned Australian photographer Bill Henson (Bill 1383/1384), receiving $150,000.
McCorkell's winning image was part of her 'Scar Stories' project, a collection of photos she made to empower young cancer survivors who live with scars from cancer. Bond and Kean spend most of their time training for the Paralympics.
"My aim for this image was to create a warm, beautiful feeling of intimacy, whilst highlighting the difficulties that they are challenged with on a daily basis," said McCorkell.
In a joint statement, Aidan J Sullivan and William Long, co-judges of the 2014 Moran Contemporary Photography Prize said, "The winning image communicates this wonderful tenderness between the subjects, and at the same time displays a fantastic visual honesty, conveying an intimate and touching moment between the two disabled athletes; a day-to-day moment that was clearly something that would be part of the couple's everyday life. On one hand the visual communication conveys all that the viewer needs to know and on the other, it plants the seeds of questions that intrigue, and eventually demand the viewer to seek out those answers."
Student section prizes in the Moran Contemporary Photography Prize were also awarded to Alisha Staines from Darwin High School, in the Northern Territory (in the Year 11-12 category); Emily Riley from Gorokan High School, Gorokan NSW (in the Year 9-10 category); and Connor Russell from De La Salle Catholic College, Caringbah NSW (in the Year 7-8 category).
In eight years the Moran Contemporary Photography Prize has expanded to 2,722 entries, a 10 percent increase on last year's entries. The 2014 Moran Prizes exhibition is being staged from October 29, at Juniper Hall, 250 Oxford Street, Paddington, Sydney. The exhibition includes the 30 finalists in the 2014 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize and the 2014 Moran Contemporary Photography Prize (Open section), as well as winning entries in the Student section of the Photography Prize. Entry is free and visitors are invited to vote in the People's Choice Award, with the winning artist and photographer, and also a randomly selected voter, eligible to win a cash prize of $1,000.
More information: www.moranprizes.com.au
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'Rural Iwo Jima,' by Cameron Neville. "This image forms part of a project I am working on about the Rural Fire Service here in Queensland. My briagade was called to assist in a Bush Fire burning next to the M1 Motorway at Pimpama in November of 2013. The tree here was known as 'Candling' where the fire burns through the middle of the trunk to final burst from the top. Rural Control was concerned that the tree would fall onto the adjaacent road in the coming days and wanted to remove the risk. These two specially trained officers were tasked with its removal."
'Pool Closed,' by Pamela Pauline. "This was taken on a particularly stormy day at North Curl Curl Ocean Pool. Nobody seemed concerned about the 'Pool Closed' warning."
'Sydney Sapeurs #1 Isaac,' by Louise Whelan. "The tradition of the suit-wearing Sapeurs from The Democratic Republic of the Congo has made its way to the western suburbs of Sydney. The Kisimbas are a sharply dressed family who migrated to Australia as refugees under the UNHCR resettlement program. I have been photographing this family for four years. Isaac's stare is direct, his look and pose is of one who knows how to wear a suit; there was no sign of adolescent awkwardness as he sits on a chair we borrowed from the counsel kerb-side clean up."